This clip spanning a mere 11 minutes of coverage from last night’s ABC World News broadcast is quite remarkable if for no other reason that it manages to seamlessly condense so many controversial and highly-charged memes into such a short space of time.

First up to bat was more information on the Obama administration’s evolving, tougher response to the foiled “Terror Plot” on Christmas, including speculation about possible head-rolling accountability to come following the inter-agency blame game and teasing suggestions of retaliatory cruise missile and/or drone strikes against “Al Queda” Monkey Bar 101 “training camps” that might soon be forthcoming in the failing and hitherto entirely obscure country of Yemen.

This was followed by a segment called “Show Me the Money” describing how the tens of billions of dollars spent since 9/11 to beef up aviation security is still woefully inadequate to the task for various reasons… Again, plenty of blame to spread around for the “business as usual” attitude; from profit-hungry, corner-cutting airlines and persnickety civil rights groups, to witless government agencies hopelessly enmeshed in bureaucratic red tape.

Finally, the Disney network’s ABC’s suave new anchor turned our attention to the purportedly mysterious and apparently vexing questions concerning the so-called “radicalization” of lonely, gullible youngsters that we’re told is becoming increasingly prevalent in this “new age of terror.” Here the coverage rapidly evolved from the provocative but unanswerable initial query as to why “a son of privilege and education” would become a terrorist into a nullifying discussion about the merits of racial profiling.

Phew! I’d remind you that this blizzard of terra-related stuff was all crammed into slightly more time than it takes to smoke a cigarette. Is it any wonder that people these days can’t really make sense of current events or sensibly put the news in any sort of meaningful context when so much superficial information, feckless opinion and elliptical speculation is packaged in such a useless, uninsightful, and ultimately agitating format?

Tried listening to the video, but couldn’t stand any more 6 minutes. Those people just don’t get it. The reason for the hatred of America (but not necessarily all Americans, any more than hatred of Israel makes anyone an anti-semite, or hatred of Our Dear Leader makes one anti-Canadian) has nothing to do with their freedom and democracy and everything to do with their meddling imperialism.

As for the people/government/geography/or whatever of Yemen being such good friends of the US that they needed a few well placed bombs dropped on them… Who believes that load?

And these disaffected, lonely young men – who all seem to be at an age where mental illnesses tend to kick in anyway – are going to keep on sprouting like heads on a hydra. They can’t keep track of them all.

As for the recent overkill of no hand baggage – btw is that just for people leaving Canada? – I have the solution to that!! Don’t allow people on planes!! Since people wearing underwear, or shoes, or carrying bottled water, scissors, boxcutters, nail files, face cream…. all of them are likely terrah-ists.